Quarterly wrap: January – March 2021

Transitioning back to the office. With COVID-19 now basically non-existent in my state, we’ve slowly begun the transition back to the office from working-at-home arrangements. To be honest, I’ve actually only been in at the office once so far, but things will be gaining momentum over the next few weeks. I won’t be going back to the office every day of the week, and I’m looking forward to having more variety in my work environment!

Moving into my own place. Yes, you read that right—I’ve finally managed to move out of the family home and into my very own place (well, I’m renting, but it’s still my space)! This is a very recent development and I’m still in the process of moving, but I can’t express how excited-slash-terrified I am to begin this new chapter of my life. One thing I learned from 2020 was the importance of chasing what you want, and I’m keen to discover what that means for me!

Making more time for family. A priority for me this year has been to be more flexible with my plans and to make more space for other things in my life. It’s a slow process given my workaholic tendencies, but I’m satisfied I’ve made progress in this quarter. I’ve found time to go down to the beach or out to dinner with the family on a couple of weeknights, adjusting goals to prioritise that time with my loved ones. And it’s been worth it!

Status: Querying

Word count: 85,000 (approx.)

What’s new:

One of my key goals for 2021 is to finalise the publishing pathway for my contemporary YA novel Holding Up the Sky. I’ve taken an important step towards that goal this quarter by submitting the manuscript to a handful of Australian publishers. Several publishers here accept direct submissions, so I thought I’d give it a shot! I should hear back (or not) from them all in the next quarter, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll proceed with self-publishing!

Status: Post-beta editing

Word count: 195,170 (2nd draft)

What’s new:

In 2020, I obtained some fantastic and constructive beta feedback for Blood of Old, book 1 in my fantasy series Graceborn. I spent most of January going through this in detail, making decisions on how I would incorporate said feedback into my next draft. These decisions have some flow-on effects for the entire series, which is actually quite exciting! I’ve now outlined the 3rd draft, though I won’t start work on this until I’ve rewritten book 2.

Status: 2nd draft outline complete

Word count: 0

What’s new:

Though I started drafting First the Song (Graceborn #2) last year, I didn’t end up finishing because I realised I’d have to make some drastic changes. Changes that will make the story much better than my original plan. In the last month, I have put together a basic outline for the 2nd draft. It’s less detailed than some of my recent outlines, but I’ve decided to give myself a bit more freedom when writing this version, which I plan to start in April!

Status: on hold

Word count: 56,656 (1st draft)

What’s new:

The Layers Beneath Us is another YA contemporary standalone, and the novel I drafted during NaNoWriMo last year. I’m looking forward to revisiting this one at some point, but since I have my hands full in 2021 with other projects, I need to put it on the backburner for a little while. So you probably won’t see me providing any further updates on this one until there’s something to say. In the meantime, you can check out a few snippets here.